President János Áder has slammed the Valea Uzului (Úzvölgye) military cemetery incident between Hungarians and Romanians as “blasphemous, in violation of laws and international agreements and also deeply immoral.”
The Valea Uzului memorial cemetery in eastern Romania commemorates Hungarian soldiers fallen in the first world war. In April 2019, the local council erected a memorial site for Romanian soldiers fallen in the second world war. Ahead of the site’s inauguration on Thursday, the visitors of that event clashed with Szekler demonstrators and eventually forced their way into the cemetery.
President Áder said that the memorial for Romanian soldiers contained 52 crosses, some of which “have been erected over the ashes of Hungarian soldiers”. The Romanian authorities have also found the memorial site unlawful, he said, noting the Romanian defense ministry’s statement that it has issued no permits for it.
The President said the construction of the memorial site infringes on the Romanian-Hungarian agreement on the maintenance of war graves. It is also “deeply immoral”, he added.
He concluded that it is in the interest of Hungary and of ethnic Hungarians living in Romania to find a solution enabling a peaceful coexistence between Romanians and Hungarians. “There are several empty plots [in Valea Uzului],” he said. “No one will object to a memorial there to soldiers who have been documented as resting there.”
Photo: Transylvania NOW